Well, Shane, it was 15 minutes total including 5 minutes for setup. Some took longer and some not as long to set up depending on the complexity of their gear. Some performed for 10 minutes and some for closer to 15 or 20 or so. Maybe it's best to specify an approximate time interval rather than a maximum, since most people went over time.

I expected to have someone there with a clock calling time at 10 minutes or something formal like that, but it was explained to me how low key we are here and I like that a lot.

Les

ahh yes...setup time can cost some minutes. I see what you mean._________________ ElectroCasa

I just mentioned this in the beginner's forum section, and I thought the notion belonged here as well. We can do something like what they do at academic conferences, have invited and submitted "papers", each presented by the author in a little talk, and compile them into a book or CD. This would be a great way of gathering our collective expertise into a condensed format that a person could enjoy in physical or electronic format.

Here's another tiny little idea to toss into the mix: Avatars on premade name tags. Somene, maybe Beth, mentioned that many of us (including me) did not have our nicks on our name tags. It would be cool although perhaps a bit overly formal to have name tags with avatars on them. This might be too much work or something, but anyway it's just a suggestion.

Here's another tiny little idea to toss into the mix: Avatars on premade name tags. Somene, maybe Beth, mentioned that many of us (including me) did not have our nicks on our name tags. It would be cool although perhaps a bit overly formal to have name tags with avatars on them. This might be too much work or something, but anyway it's just a suggestion.

Les

Dude, I just remembered to write my nick boldly on the tag above my name... O_o_________________Garret: It's so retro.
EGM: What does retro mean to you?
Parker: Like, old and outdated.Home,My Studio,and another view

Here's another tiny little idea to toss into the mix: Avatars on premade name tags. Somene, maybe Beth, mentioned that many of us (including me) did not have our nicks on our name tags. It would be cool although perhaps a bit overly formal to have name tags with avatars on them. This might be too much work or something, but anyway it's just a suggestion.
Les

Hey cool idea Les... however... costs like that would just have to be passed on to the participants. At this point, that doesn't look like a worthy investment compared to other things that money could be spent on.

However, I think you make a good point just by bringing up the subject itself... I too forgot to put my nick on my ID as well. I think that is a good idea and will be something to remember for next time.

Also... I thinking it's cool if people decorate or make their own nametags. There was great sharpie's there to choose from...i did a kind of calligraphic style font that I liked _________________ ElectroCasa

We can do something like what they do at academic conferences, have invited and submitted "papers", each presented by the author in a little talk, and compile them into a book or CD. This would be a great way of gathering our collective expertise into a condensed format that a person could enjoy in physical or electronic format.

Les

Being a now-academic who has done the published paper thing for 20+ years and who now *has* to do it to get tenure, I'd vote in favor of *not* doing it that way. Seminar presenters can bring handouts if they like (Ge gave a 3+ hour seminar in ChucK in 2007), and/or post code etc. on websites. We can invited seminars -- mine on Scrabble-to-MIDI was invited, in part to replace a seminar presenter who couldn't show. One danger in making this look like an academic conference is that you'd attract too many "publish or perish" presenters whose only interest is to chalk publications up on their CVs.

Seminar presenters should include a URL for materials that they don't want to bring along.

Not a bad suggestion, by the way! It's just that I am leery of seeing this become anything like an academic conference. This is *WAY* more fun._________________When the stream is deep
my wild little dog frolics,
when shallow, she drinks.

Well yes, good point Dale and Paul. I don't want to get formal either, I never could adjust to presenting papers in college. What I'll do is maybe - if I remember or want to - prepare a short document describing the stuff that I perform next year. I'll just print it out and offer it in software form to whoever wants it. Whatever such a thing may be, it should certainly be informal, unstructured, and up to the individual whatever the form should be.

Providing handouts and secondary links out of the pages linked here would be helpful. It beats handing out URLs during the festival, which I found myself doing a few times. More organized and easier to find / remember._________________When the stream is deep
my wild little dog frolics,
when shallow, she drinks.

I had to miss stuff I really wanted to see because I could not make it on Thursday. Sunday could even be a 1/2 or 3/4 day to allow for return travel.
09 was great, though. My two days seemed like 10 minutes!

Hmmyeah...then again, I came from Europe for my first EM event, and wanted to get the maximum experience despite jetlag and exhaustion. These days were filled with 12 hours and over non stop activity, staying up late anyway, then waking up too early, for me the days felt like they had the activity and experience of a week crammed into them and I loved every second of them.

I would be very dissapointed if the program would be shortened for any reason.

So you missed a day huh? That's bad, dude.... but if that day hadn't been scheduled everybody would have missed a day. It's not often I get a chance to attend an event this magnificent. I would actually prefer to come thursday, friday, saterday and sunday. AND wednesday....

( ....." and tuesday??" electri-fire mutters to himself while making his way to the other room. A small grin starts deforming his bewildered face prior to him exploding into manic laughter....)

Ok, I'm back.

Could we have just a little more time between the action. I've had to hurry several times to get from one place to the other.

Could we have just a little more time between the action. I've had to hurry several times to get from one place to the other.

.

That's mostly from unplanned performance over-runs. We need a graceful way to use the hook when a performer starts running over._________________When the stream is deep
my wild little dog frolics,
when shallow, she drinks.

I suggest less performances, slightly longer sets, with 5 or 10 minute intervals. I was always overwhelmed at the amount of performances when I went. Alternatively for the amazing volume of artists who come to play, artists should be encouraged to perform together, it would probably provide a more sonic environment. I myself only perfrom solo sets because I have no-one likeminded musically to jam with, to be honest. I'm sure at an Electro Music festival there would be someone who could operate on the same frequency... I wish I would have thought of that last year for my set.

I agree we need a way to hold people to the schedule. Maybe the flashlight will work - some performers seem completely oblivious!

I agree.. and I am one of the oblivious persons and I apologize again for my 7 minutes over in my set to Richard Lainhart, the sound people, and the rest of the festival.
When Im playing... I often cannot tell the difference between 15 minutes to a 1/2 hour... or 1/2 hour to hour sometimes. Thus having someone to tell me "5 minutes" or "wrap it up" is a good thing.

The soundperson should NOT be shy to signal or walk up to the stage/performer for anything... including telling the performer to stop or helping them with a sound problem.

As a former soundman in a club...I think the people running sound at the festival event should have these responsibilities... (of which I am willingly to volunteer myself as well)

1. Assist with set up
2. Sound check and engineering
3. Signal the performer when to start and stop
4. Brief Announcement of what is next at the festival

This is one of the toughest jobs at the festival and is rarely done for free anywhere.
Having people volunteer to do this is a HUGE sacrifice of their time and is a highly commendable act for the good of the whole.

But, IMO...I think we should employ these 4 principles in order to keep the festival and the experience running smoothly as a whole.

Number 4 could be disregarded if we had a designated MC up and downstairs... but a brief announcement can easily be made by the soundman/woman from the soundboard with a mic.

I think the announcements will go a long way with keeping people oriented on what is happening at the moment. The festival is so stimulating and overwhelming...announcements help to focus that energy.

I think the announcements will go a long way with keeping people oriented on what is happening at the moment. The festival is so stimulating and overwhelming...announcements help to focus that energy.

Totally. I think, provided we can find enough volunteers, splitting the task of being "(Master|Mistress) of Ceremonies" and "Soundperson", and formalizing the MC role somewhat would be quite helpful. In the past, I've noticed Howard doing this much of the time, but this year the role was a bit more distributed (and, to me, at least, a bit more muddled).

Perhaps we could designate one official MC per 6-hour shift? And this person could 1. announce the current performer at the beginning of the set, 2. be responsible for encouraging the performer to end on time, and 3. announce the next set right at the conclusion of the current set. Then scurry off to the other room to do the same three steps again.

I think part of the problem was the tight schedule. I'm not sure how realistic it was to try to keep to the schedule over a 14 hour period. I agree, better announcing would be helpful (it would have made my job a lot easier, as an aside). Upstairs/Downstairs communication didn't really start happening effectively until Saturday, in essence Friday got fairly confused.

Keeping to schedule, or making sure that 1/2 hour is indeed 1/2 hour, 3/4 hours is 3/4 hours, etc, and especially the concept that even if you start late, the clock was already ticking so you then have to stop on time, not late.

It's that or provide gaps in the schedule to give us all time to catch up.

John R did a great job announcing on Saturday from downstairs. He's kind of the standard I'd think we'd want people to aspire to.

None of this means that the 3 day festival was bad at all. I thought overall it went really well considering. But if we are to improve it, yeah, we need some stronger stage management._________________Garret: It's so retro.
EGM: What does retro mean to you?
Parker: Like, old and outdated.Home,My Studio,and another view

I think the announcements will go a long way with keeping people oriented on what is happening at the moment. The festival is so stimulating and overwhelming...announcements help to focus that energy.

Totally. I think, provided we can find enough volunteers, splitting the task of being "(Master|Mistress) of Ceremonies" and "Soundperson", and formalizing the MC role somewhat would be quite helpful. In the past, I've noticed Howard doing this much of the time, but this year the role was a bit more distributed (and, to me, at least, a bit more muddled).

Perhaps we could designate one official MC per 6-hour shift? And this person could 1. announce the current performer at the beginning of the set, 2. be responsible for encouraging the performer to end on time, and 3. announce the next set right at the conclusion of the current set. Then scurry off to the other room to do the same three steps again.

Stop. Hammer time.

Hey this is a good plan as well. Just takes an extra volunteer...but would be optimum imo though. I would volunteer to do this as well._________________ ElectroCasa

I think part of the problem was the tight schedule. I'm not sure how realistic it was to try to keep to the schedule over a 14 hour period. I agree, better announcing would be helpful (it would have made my job a lot easier, as an aside). Upstairs/Downstairs communication didn't really start happening effectively until Saturday, in essence Friday got fairly confused.

Keeping to schedule, or making sure that 1/2 hour is indeed 1/2 hour, 3/4 hours is 3/4 hours, etc, and especially the concept that even if you start late, the clock was already ticking so you then have to stop on time, not late.

It's that or provide gaps in the schedule to give us all time to catch up.

John R did a great job announcing on Saturday from downstairs. He's kind of the standard I'd think we'd want people to aspire to.

None of this means that the 3 day festival was bad at all. I thought overall it went really well considering. But if we are to improve it, yeah, we need some stronger stage management.

It is indeed hard to keep a 14 hour International music festival on schedule. Problems and delays should be expected...it is always part of the process.
I agree... I thought overall it went well too. Very well. But , we can improve this with a few easy adjustments and good communication to enhance the overall experience for performers, .

It is tough to tell someone their set has to be cut short because someone 2 hours earlier was a little late.
If the soundperson, stage manager, or MC was announcing the performance beginning and ending times, and keeping people rolling on the right track ...we should eliminate a lot of delays and be able to adhere to the schedule more.
Maybe more time between acts, pre-staging of equipment by performers encouraged, and making time adjustments as needed the day of would be better alternatives to taking time away from performers.

I agree... John R basically did all 4 of the things I listed earlier and did them very well! Kudos to John!_________________ ElectroCasa

I suggest less performances, slightly longer sets, with 5 or 10 minute intervals. I was always overwhelmed at the amount of performances when I went. Alternatively for the amazing volume of artists who come to play, artists should be encouraged to perform together, it would probably provide a more sonic environment.

There was a collaborative set each night around midnight at em09, Richochet Gathering, British Invasion, and Space Port Zero Nine.

I agree .. the collaborations are GREAT fun and some very wonderful and special music is created from them. I think they are as equally exciting for perfomers as for audience.

___________________________________________________________

It would be nice to spread the overlap between performances on both stages, workshops, and demos out a little more too.
Then more of the attendants would populate one particular space for a longer period of time.

It is cool having so many options..but its also not so great when a performer only has 3 people to listen to them after they made a huge pilgrimage to get there and perform.
One thing that Greg and Howard always stress at the festivals is that we are all listeners and performers alike... and it is very important that we all support each other.
Imo ... for the size of the festival... having performances, demos, workshops, and jam room all running concurrently often thins out the audiences too much for each place.
____________________________________________________________

Lastly, I would just like to say that possibly adding some SPONSORS ...corporate or local can go a long way to raise money, food&drinks, gifts for the lottery.
The money could be used for an assortment of things... but an adverstising plan to draw more people from Philly and NYC and other areas comes to mind immediately to me.
In exchange... Sponsors could be listed and linked on the website, festival brochure, and at the festival. Corporate music sponsors could be encouraged to set up a booth at the event as well. You could even set up a heirarchy of sponsorship. $50, $100, $500...get this...etc.

These are just some ideas of mine that popped in my mind. Food for thought. I am sure there are many opinions on these ideas as well.
I think the festival is wonderful and Howard and Greg do a wonderful job every year keeping this ship afloat!_________________ ElectroCasa

It is cool having so many options..but its also not so great when a performer only has 3 people to listen to them after they made a huge pilgrimage to get there and perform.
One thing that Greg and Howard always stress at the festivals is that we are all listeners and performers alike... and it is very important that we all support each other.
Imo ... for the size of the festival... having performances, demos, workshops, and jam room all running concurrently often thins out the audiences too much for each place.

I think the concurrent activity gives electro-music a unique kind of "vibe". I like the idea that the sets are not formal concerts and that people can "come when they can and leave when they must". The lounge room was very nice and I enjoyed the presentations and some of the informal jams there.

shanemorris wrote:

Lastly, I would just like to say that possibly adding some SPONSORS ...corporate or local can go a long way to raise money, food&drinks, gifts for the lottery.
The money could be used for an assortment of things... but an adverstising plan to draw more people from Philly and NYC and other areas comes to mind immediately to me.
In exchange... Sponsors could be listed and linked on the website, festival brochure, and at the festival. Corporate music sponsors could be encouraged to set up a booth at the event as well. You could even set up a heirarchy of sponsorship. $50, $100, $500...get this...etc.

I like the non-commercial, non-pop, non-conventional aspect of the electro-music.community and festival. Thus, I'm a little uncomfortable with corporate involvement -- not sure how it would impact the atmosphere of the festival._________________-- Kevinhttp://kevinkissinger.com

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